


all it does is rain

by allthefadinglights



Series: dear patience [1]
Category: Formula 1 RPF, Formula 2 RPF, Motorsport RPF
Genre: Coffeeshop AU, College AU, First Kiss, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29336859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthefadinglights/pseuds/allthefadinglights
Summary: Callum has no idea that a rainy day will turn his life upside down.
Relationships: Marcus Armstrong/Callum Ilott
Series: dear patience [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2155296
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	all it does is rain

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to another instalment of 'allthefadinglights writes Mallum and ignores work'. In my defence, I've been off work sick for a couple days so I've had some time. 
> 
> Thank you all so so much for the insane feedback and kudos I've been getting. The fake dating AU I posted 2 days (!!!) ago already has over 100 kudos and that's just a lot to take in, it's already my most popular fic. Glad you guys enjoyed it.
> 
> This is another disgustingly cliché trope - actually, two. Coffeeshop AU and college AU rolled into one. It might make your teeth rot with the sweetness of it. Since I know explicit content isn't everyone's cup of tea, I've kept this one general. Hope you enjoy!

Callum has had a really long day with too many lectures to wrap his head around. He’s not sure why he promised his parents he’d go to college, because he’s a month in and already regretting it. After secondary school, he’d taken a year off to figure out what it is he wanted. He’s still not sure if he’s made the right choice, but with his interest in motorsports, engineering seemed like a logical choice. He was never good at karting though, so eight-year-old Callum’s dreams of becoming a driver had been crushed after a few afternoons in a kart. Still, he enjoyed it and even if he didn’t end up working in single seaters, he’d have a degree that was useful in a lot of fields. He hadn’t anticipated it being so difficult, however. His brain stopped retaining information after the third lecture of the day and though he took notes, he has no idea what they’re about. It’s only four in the afternoon, and he has studying to do before tomorrow’s classes, but his head feels like it’s stuffed full with marshmallows rather than brains. 

Callum has stopped by the little on-campus coffeeshop more often than he’d care to admit in the past month, a good latte usually waking him up again and allowing him to study while actually remembering what he reads. It’s almost the weekend, he tells himself. Then he can sleep in a bit longer. He’s so lost in thoughts and numbers that he doesn’t notice it’s his turn to order until the barista coughs politely. “Fuck, sorry. Can I have a caramel latte, large?” He pays and then moves off to the side to wait for his latte. It’s just started raining outside - which is great, he’s going to get soaked on his walk back to his shared apartment. 

“Caramel latte for Callum?” 

“Cheers,” Callum says, taking his latte and considering what he’s going to do. He can always sit here for a while, study, and pray it stops raining sometime before dinner. Yeah, that’s probably his best bet. When he looks around, there aren’t any empty tables. Most tables have a few people sitting at it - except the one in the corner. There’s just one guy there, hidden away in the corner with his hood up, typing at rapid speed on his laptop. Asking never hurts, right? “Hi,” Callum says as he approaches the table. “Do you mind if I sit with you? I won’t make any noise, just need a seat to study.” 

A pair of big eyes studies him for a second, half his face still hidden under the hood of his sweater. “Sure.” He goes right back to his work as Callum settles down, taking out his laptop and one of his text books to see if he can make any sense of his notes. His latte is gone within minutes, caffeine kicking in and helping him recognise what on earth he’s learning about. He could really use another one, if only to stay awake until a decent time instead of rolling into bed at eight. 

“I’m gonna get another coffee, can I get you something as well?” he asks the guy he’s sharing the table with. 

“Double espresso if you don’t mind? I’ll watch your stuff,” the guy replies, pushing the hood down and revealing his entire face. _Shit, he’s cute_. Callum nods and disappears off to the counter to get their drinks. He feels the guy’s eyes on him the entire time. It doesn’t take him long to return with the drinks, handing him the double espresso and keeping the latte for himself. “Cheers. I’m Marcus, by the way. What do I owe you?”

“Nothing, my treat - you look like you’re studying something really difficult. I’m Callum.” 

“Yeah, I have an essay deadline in about an hour, something about Shakespeare and symbolism - long story. Thanks for the coffee.” And that effectively ends their conversation, both of them going back to work. Callum glances at him over his laptop occasionally, catches him frowning and mumbling to himself. He’s still there when Callum decides to go home half an hour later, having seen it stopped raining. 

“Good luck on your essay,” Callum says as he slings his bag over his shoulder. He gets a smile in return. It’s a short walk home - but long enough to get absolutely soaked if it’s raining. As soon as Callum closes the front door behind him, he hears voices in the kitchen. He only has two roommates, Juan and Mick, but Juan usually has someone over, either to study with or just to hang out with. More often than not, it’s Jüri - Callum is of the opinion Jüri might as well move in considering how much time he spends at theirs. He’s become the honorary third roommate since Juan moved in. Mick’s very quiet, it’s always hard to tell if he’s home or not because he stays in his room when he’s at home. It’s a nice balance, they have the unspoken rule to always tell each other if there’s going to be noise after ten in the evening - mainly when Juan throws a party. 

“You’re late,” Juan tells him as he enters the kitchen. 

“Sorry, _mom_. I didn’t wanna walk home in the rain so I waited,” Callum grumbles, throwing his keys on the table and dropping his bag by the door. 

“I made dinner,” Jüri announces. “We were about to start without you but thankfully you’re here. Mick!” There’s some stumbling before Mick joins them in the kitchen, looking extremely tired, letting himself fall into a chair. Dinner consists of pasta with vegetables and chicken - it’s not bad as far as college student dinners go. Callum helps Juan with the dishes as Mick disappears back into his room - Callum’s pretty sure he hasn’t said a single word the entire time. Juan fills him in, explaining that Mick has an exam tomorrow and he’s been studying all day.

“We’re a month into the semester,” Callum says incredulously. “How does he already have exams?” Juan shrugs, putting away the last plate. 

As it turns out, Callum has already done the majority of his work at the coffeeshop. He only has one more subject to prepare for tomorrow, instead of the usual ‘doing everything at the last second because he was so tired he fell asleep before he could finish his work’. Huh. Working in that setting apparently was good for him. He doesn’t think about it for too long, he still has work to do and he does want to go to bed on time.

It takes him a week to return to the coffeeshop. Callum has been doing mainly group projects this week, so there wasn’t much need to get some work done in silence, but he’s stuck on advanced calculus and the college library is much too noisy to think about complicated problems. It’s no surprise, when he’s got his latte, that every seat is taken, again. But he spots a familiar figure in the back - Marcus. He’s still on his own so Callum doesn’t feel bad about approaching him. “Hi, me again. Mind if I sit?” 

“Go ahead,” Marcus replies. “You’re a decent study buddy so I really don’t mind. You can join me anytime.”

“Thanks,” Callum says. He’s not sure why that cheers him up, but it’s nice. “How did your essay thing go?” 

Marcus grimaces. “I haven’t gotten my grade back yet but I don’t think it’ll be good.”

“Shit, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Thanks for asking.” They get to work in silence again, Callum getting a lot done in the hour and a half he spends at the coffeeshop working with Marcus. Well, it’s not so much working _with_ Marcus, it’s working while Marcus is across the table not even saying anything. But it helps him get things done somehow, so he’s not about to complain about it. Plus, he’s cute and he doesn’t mind Callum sitting at his table. “Latte?” Marcus asks eventually, stretching his arms out over his head. His shirt rides up a little, revealing a glimpse of a toned stomach, and Callum does his best not to stare, determinedly looking at his textbook. 

“Yeah, please. Caramel latte.”

“I’ll get them this time, my treat. Makes us even.” Marcus grins at him before he gets up. 

It becomes a regular thing, the both of them studying at the coffeeshop. They alternate getting the drinks and between studying sessions, they chat. He learns that Marcus is an exchange student from New Zealand, majoring in English Literature, and that he hates it but it’s the only way his parents will let him do what he wants. “Plus, I’m out of sight from my parents and I can just live my life without being helicopter-parented,” Marcus shrugs. “I just miss my siblings.” Callum tells him about his little sister. It turns out they have a lot in common, him and Marcus, and he sees him often enough that he’s starting to consider him a friend. 

“Who was the guy you were sitting with, Callum?” Juan asks over dinner one night. Sometimes it’s useful that he’s so nosy because he knows all the latest campus gossip. This is not one of those times. “New date?”

“No, just a friend,” Callum replies, but he feels his cheeks getting warm. Marcus isn’t his date, that’s ridiculous. “We’ve been studying together for a while.”

“He’s cute,” Jüri says with his mouth full. “What? He is.”

“I’m studying, not dating,” Callum hisses. “Do you two just spy on me when you’re bored or what?”

“No, we were getting coffee and we saw you and wanted to say hi but you were very busy chatting with him,” Juan says lightly. 

“We’re just study buddies, can we drop the subject now?” Jüri is still studying him as he eats his pizza, but they leave him alone. For now. Callum has no doubt they’ll try to bring it up again later.

It’s good, meeting Marcus almost every day. It takes Callum a couple weeks to realise that he might be developing a crush on him. Somehow, the realisation makes it a lot harder not to notice how pretty Marcus is, how captivating his eyes are - how toned he is. Callum knows he spends his free time in the gym, though he hasn’t figured out the reason for it just yet. Surely no one likes exercise _that_ much. He’s done a pretty good job at hiding his crush so far, Marcus doesn’t seem suspicious. They chat the same as always and Callum’s realisation doesn’t change anything between them. 

And then one day, Marcus doesn’t show up to the coffeeshop. Callum’s a little disappointed, but he can deal. It’s only one day. He doesn’t get as much work done - or any at all - that day. It’s not just one day, it turns out the next afternoon. Marcus stays absent and Callum has no way of contacting him because they’ve never exchanged contact details - Marcus is always there when he shows up, there’s been no need to contact him. He doesn’t even know Marcus’ last name. He debates asking administration if they can give him an email address, but he’s pretty sure the answer will be no. And there must be dozens of guys named Marcus on this campus. Marcus doesn’t show the rest of the week either, nor the following week. Callum is getting concerned now. Has he done anything wrong? But he can’t remember anything feeling off the last time he saw Marcus. Nothing happened, he’s just gone. 

Callum barely gets any work done the following days, tries really hard not to be sad about it but he is. He also hopes Marcus is okay, wherever he is. Even if something has happened to him, there’s no way for Callum to find out. That realisation makes him even more miserable. “Callum?” someone asks outside his door. It sounds like Mick. 

“Yeah, come in,” he says, raising his voice just enough to make sure Mick hears him through the door. “Door’s open.” 

“You look like shit,” Mick observes, ignoring the angry look Callum shoots him. Juan follows him inside, leaning against his dresser.

“What is this, an intervention?”

“Of sorts,” Juan says calmly. “We have something for you.” _If it’s not Marcus, I don’t want it._ But Callum says nothing. “Mick, give him the thing.” 

Mick presses a piece of paper in his hand. “Please just… use it. We can’t stand seeing you like this.” Callum looks at the paper, slightly confused how that will solve his problems. It has an email address on it. “His name is Marcus Armstrong, you mentioned he majors in English Lit to Juan once, so I found someone who’s in his classes. She says he hasn’t been to class in a while, so it’s not you he’s avoiding. Just send him an email, see what happens. I know it’s not a phone number but it’s the best we could do.”

“You guys went to all that trouble for me?” Callum whispers. 

Mick squeezes his arm. “You care about him, we care about you.”

“Go get your boy,” is Juan’s helpful addition before they leave his room. Callum stares at the email address. Why is he suddenly doubting contacting Marcus? It’s not like he’s proposing marriage. Okay, fine, he’s doing this. He has to know. He opens his email and copies the address into the ‘to:’ bar. 

_Dear Marcus,_

_I apologise if you want nothing to do with college or me anymore, but I have to know. Are you ok? My roommates got me your email address, hope that’s ok._

_Callum_

He debates adding something like ‘I miss studying with you’ but that’d be a bit too sappy so he leaves it as is. Before he can doubt himself any more, he presses send. He’s not expecting an answer. 

Yet, when he wakes up in the morning, he does have an answer from Marcus. He drops his spoon into his cereal with a loud clang, staring at his phone. “Open it,” Juan says. 

“What if he hates me? What if I crossed a line by sending that email? What if it’s his family telling me something has happened?” Callum is aware he sounds desperate but his heart is his throat and he doesn’t really want to read it if it’s something bad. 

Juan pokes him in the arm. “We didn’t go to all that trouble only for you to ignore his reply. Just open it.”

_Dear Callum,_

_You have no idea how relieved I am to hear from you. I’m so sorry I was gone without saying anything, but my sister had been in a car accident and I had to be with my family here in New Zealand. She’s alright, just recovering now and annoying me to be her personal servant since her leg is in a cast. I got the semester off from college, exceptional circumstances, but I’ll be back there next week. My flight’s on Tuesday. We have a lot of catching up to do._

_I owe you a latte._

_Marcus_

Underneath his name, there’s a paragraph with his flight details, which airport and what time he’ll be landing, and a phone number. Callum exhales loudly, tearing up in relief that everything is okay. “Shit, what is it?” Juan asks, looking at him.

“He’s fine, it’s fine,” Callum says quietly, rubbing a hand over his face. “His sister was in a car accident but she’s okay now. He’s flying back on Tuesday.” Juan’s smile is almost blinding, nearly launching himself over the table to hug him. 

“You should pick him up from the airport on Tuesday. It’s pretty obvious that’s what he wants or he wouldn’t have included his flight details. God, that’s so fucking rom-com movie. Disgusting,” Juan says in his ear. Callum whacks him on the arm and tells him to shut up. 

He texts Marcus as soon as he’s back in his room, feeling a thousand pounds lighter and smiling like an idiot when his status pops to ‘online’ and then to ‘typing…’. They don’t stop texting the entire weekend, Mick and Juan teasing him about it endlessly, but he can tell they’re genuinely happy for him so he puts up with it. 

Tuesday comes along fast, now that he texts Marcus daily. Callum borrows Mick’s car to drive to the airport, repeatedly declining Juan’s not-so-subtle offer to drive him, not sure why he’s so nervous that his hand won’t stop shaking. He saw Marcus every day for weeks on end, this isn’t any different. But it might be, because he’s actually fallen in love with Marcus and he has the feeling that it’s mutual. He’s been too scared to bring it up via text, however, so that conversation will have to wait a bit longer. 

Callum is way too early, has to wait by the gate for nearly half an hour but his head is just full of the thought that he’s going to see Marcus again, so time passes quickly. He can’t control his smile when he watches Marcus come through the doors, suitcase in tow. He spots Callum instantly, his eyes lighting up as he walks towards him. “Hi,” Callum breathes.

“Hey you,” Marcus replies with a smile, and god, he has missed that voice. Marcus lets go of his suitcase, drops his jacket on the floor and pulls Callum in by his neck, completely taking him by surprise as he kisses Callum. It takes him a second to respond, kissing back enthusiastically as he feels Marcus smile into the kiss. He doesn’t know how long they stand there - probably too long to be kissing in a public place - but he really doesn’t care. “I’m sorry,” Marcus whispers eventually as they gradually slow down and break apart, “I’m so sorry for making you worry.”

Callum pulls him into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to his hair. “It’s okay. You’re here now, and you bet I’m not letting you go again.”

“You might have to,” Marcus says, but there’s a grin on his face. “How else are we going to get back?”

“I hate you,” Callum mumbles, picking up Marcus’ jacket and taking his suitcase.

“You looooove me,” Marcus sings. 

“Maybe. We’ll see about that,” Callum replies as he side-eyes Marcus, but he takes his hand when they walk into the cold October air.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Comments are always appreciated <3


End file.
